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Informal logic encompasses the principles oflogic and logical thought outside of aformal setting (characterized by the usage of particularstatements). However, the precise definition of "informal logic" is a matter of some dispute.[1]Ralph H. Johnson andJ. Anthony Blair define informal logic as "a branch of logic whose task is to develop non-formal standards, criteria, procedures for the analysis, interpretation, evaluation, criticism and construction of argumentation."[2] This definition reflects what had been implicit in their practice and what others were doing in their informal logic texts.
Informal logic is associated withinformal fallacies,critical thinking, the thinking skills movement[3] and the interdisciplinary inquiry known asargumentation theory.Frans H. van Eemeren writes that the label "informal logic" covers a "collection of normative approaches to the study of reasoning in ordinary language that remain closer to the practice of argumentation than formal logic."[4]
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Informal logic as a distinguished enterprise under this name emerged roughly in the late 1970s as a sub-field ofphilosophy. The naming of the field was preceded by the appearance of a number of textbooks that rejected thesymbolic approach tologic onpedagogical grounds as inappropriate and unhelpful for introductorytextbooks on logic for a general audience, for exampleHoward Kahane'sLogic and Contemporary Rhetoric, subtitled "The Use of Reason in Everyday Life", first published in 1971. Kahane's textbook was described on the notice of his death in theProceedings And Addresses of the American Philosophical Association (2002) as "a text in informal logic, [that] was intended to enable students to cope with the misleading rhetoric one frequently finds in the media and in political discourse. It was organized around a discussion of fallacies, and was meant to be a practical instrument for dealing with the problems of everyday life. [It has] ... gone through many editions; [it is] ... still in print; and the thousands upon thousands of students who have taken courses in which his text [was] ... used can thank Howard for contributing to their ability to dissect arguments and avoid the deceptions of deceitful rhetoric. He tried to put into practice the ideal of discourse that aims at truth rather than merely at persuasion. (Hausman et al. 2002)"[5][6] Other textbooks from the era taking this approach wereMichael Scriven'sReasoning (Edgepress, 1976) andLogical Self-Defense byRalph Johnson andJ. Anthony Blair, first published in 1977.[5] Earlier precursors in this tradition can be consideredMonroe Beardsley'sPractical Logic (1950) andStephen Toulmin'sThe Uses of Argument (1958).[7]
The field perhaps became recognized under its current name with theFirst International Symposium on Informal Logic held in 1978. Although initially motivated by a new pedagogical approach to undergraduate logic textbooks, the scope of the field was basically defined by a list of 13 problems and issues which Blair and Johnson included as an appendix to theirkeynote address at this symposium:[5][8]
David Hitchcock argues that the naming of the field was unfortunate, and thatphilosophy of argument would have been more appropriate. He argues that more undergraduate students in North America study informal logic than any other branch of philosophy, but that as of 2003 informal logic (or philosophy of argument) was not recognized as separate sub-field by theWorld Congress of Philosophy.[5]Frans H. van Eemeren wrote that "informal logic" is mainly an approach toargumentation advanced by a group of US and Canadian philosophers and largely based on the previous works ofStephen Toulmin and to a lesser extent those ofChaïm Perelman.[4]
Alongside the symposia, since 1983 the journalInformal Logic has been the publication of record of the field, with Blair and Johnson as initial editors, with the editorial board now including two other colleagues from theUniversity of Windsor—Christopher Tindale and Hans V. Hansen.[9] Other journals that regularly publish articles on informal logic includeArgumentation (founded in 1986),Philosophy and Rhetoric,Argumentation and Advocacy (the journal of theAmerican Forensic Association), andInquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines (founded in 1988).[10]
Johnson and Blair (2000) proposed the following definition: "Informal logic designates that branch of logic whose task is to develop non-formal2 standards, criteria, procedures for the analysis, interpretation, evaluation, critique and construction of argumentation in everyday discourse." Their meaning of non-formal2 is taken from Barth and Krabbe (1982), which is explained below.
To understand the definition above, one must understandinformal which takes its meaning in contrast to its counterpartformal. (This point was not made for a very long time, hence the nature of informal logic remained opaque, even to those involved in it, for a period of time.) Here it is helpful to have recourse[11] to Barth and Krabbe (1982:14f) where they distinguish three senses of the termform. Byform1, Barth and Krabbe mean the sense of the term which derives from thePlatonicidea of form—the ultimatemetaphysical unit. Barth and Krabbe claim that most traditional logic is formal in this sense. That is, syllogistic logic is a logic of terms where the terms could naturally be understood as place-holders for Platonic (orAristotelian) forms. In this first sense ofform, almost all logic is informal (not-formal). Understanding informal logic this way would be much too broad to be useful.
By form2, Barth and Krabbe mean the form of sentences and statements as these are understood in modern systems of logic. Herevalidity is the focus: if thepremises are true, the conclusion must then also be true. Now validity has to do with thelogical form of the statement that makes up the argument. In this sense offormal, most modern and contemporary logic isformal. That is, such logics canonize the notion of logical form, and the notion of validity plays the central normative role. In this second sense of form, informal logic is not-formal, because it abandons the notion of logical form as the key to understanding thestructure of arguments, and likewise retires validity as normative for the purposes of the evaluation of argument. It seems to many that validity is too stringent a requirement, that there are good arguments in which the conclusion is supported by the premises even though it does not follow necessarily from them (as validity requires). An argument in which the conclusion is thought to be "beyond reasonable doubt, given the premises" is sufficient in law to cause a person to be sentenced todeath, even though it does not meet the standard of logical validity. This type of argument, based on accumulation of evidence rather than purededuction, is called a conductive argument.
Byform3, Barth and Krabbe mean to refer to "procedures which are somehow regulated or regimented, which take place according to some set of rules." Barth and Krabbe say that "we do not defend formality3 of all kinds and under all circumstances." Rather "we defend the thesis that verbaldialectics must have a certain form (i.e., must proceed according to certain rules) in order that one can speak of the discussion as being won or lost" (19). In this third sense ofform, informal logic can be formal, for there is nothing in the informal logic enterprise that stands opposed to the idea that argumentativediscourse should be subject to norms, i.e., subject to rules, criteria, standards or procedures. Informal logic does present standards for the evaluation of argument, procedures for detecting missing premises etc.
Johnson and Blair (2000) noticed a limitation of their own definition, particularly with respect to "everyday discourse", which could indicate that it does not seek to understand specialized, domain-specific arguments made in natural languages. Consequently, they have argued that the crucial divide is between arguments made informal languages and those made innatural languages.
Fisher and Scriven (1997) proposed a more encompassing definition, seeing informal logic as "the discipline which studies the practice of critical thinking and provides its intellectual spine". By "critical thinking" they understand "skilled and active interpretation and evaluation of observations and communications, information and argumentation."[12]
Some hold the view that informal logic is not a branch or subdiscipline of logic, or even the view that there cannot be such a thing as informal logic.[13][14][15] Massey criticizes informal logic on the grounds that it has no theory underpinning it. Informal logic, he says, requires detailed classification schemes to organize it, which in other disciplines is provided by the underlying theory. He maintains that there is no method of establishing theinvalidity of an argument aside from the formal method, and that the study of fallacies may be of more interest to other disciplines, likepsychology, than to philosophy and logic.[13]
Since the 1980s, informal logic has been partnered and even equated,[16] in the minds of many, with critical thinking. The precise definition ofcritical thinking is a subject of much dispute.[17] Critical thinking, as defined by Johnson, is the evaluation of an intellectual product (an argument, an explanation, a theory) in terms of its strengths and weaknesses.[17] While critical thinking will include evaluation of arguments and hence require skills of argumentation including informal logic, critical thinking requires additional abilities not supplied by informal logic, such as the ability to obtain and assess information and to clarify meaning. Also, many believe that critical thinking requires certain dispositions.[18] Understood in this way,critical thinking is a broad term for the attitudes and skills that are involved in analyzing and evaluating arguments. The critical thinking movement promotes critical thinking as an educational ideal. The movement emerged with great force in the 1980s in North America as part of an ongoing critique of education as regards the thinking skills not being taught.
The social, communicative practice of argumentation can and should be distinguished from implication (orentailment)—a relationship between propositions; and from inference—a mental activity typically thought of as the drawing of a conclusion from premises. Informal logic may thus be said to be a logic of argumentation, as distinguished from implication and inference.[19]
Argumentation theory is interdisciplinary in the sense that no one discipline will be able to provide a complete account. A full appreciation of argumentation requires insights from logic (both formal and informal), rhetoric, communication theory, linguistics, psychology, and, increasingly, computer science. Since the 1970s, there has been significant agreement that there are three basic approaches to argumentation theory: the logical, the rhetorical and the dialectical. According to Wenzel,[20] the logical approach deals with the product, the dialectical with the process, and the rhetorical with the procedure. Thus, informal logic is one contributor to this inquiry, being most especially concerned with the norms of argument.
Theopen accessissue 20(2) ofInformal Logic from year 2000 groups a number of papers addressing foundational issues, based on the Panel on Informal Logic that was held at the 1998 World Congress of Philosophy, including:
